30 Days + of Gratitude ~ Day 19

1. I am supremely grateful for the 4 new tires on my car, and the alignment job today...and to Chris Doggett in LA (also from Rochester, NY) for referring me to 7 Dias Tires in Koreatown for the whole job.  They gave me great service, excellent tires, and are clearly committed to doing the right thing at affordable prices.  I'm sure I'll be back.  The amount of energy I was leaking in concern about the longevity of my previous tires and the safety of my passengers is now complete!  The whole process happened outside of my intellect...through invoking Grace, asking for leads/support from friends, and trusting Intuition to guide the process.
2. I am grateful for the new acquaintances I made at Christmas Dinner hosted by good friend Jason Harler.  A stunning chef named Lisa Hall showed up, and looks like we'll be trading healing work for culinary training, with Scrabble games sprinkled in along the way.
3. I am grateful for my bed for giving me a comfortable cozy place to let go into deeper rejuvenation with each passing night.  I'm looking forward to having new pillows come my way that do that same thing for my neck :)
4. I am grateful for my neighbors Wayne and Paul who are like guardian angels, both when I'm traveling and while I'm here.  They've taken in my mail, watered my garden, opened their abundant hearts over and over again, and treated this building like a sanctuary.
5. I am grateful for the row of trees outside my windows, lining the space between my building and the next.  They give a home to the hummingbirds, squirrels, swallows, and other critters that keep me company and punctuate my intuition.  They provide a beautiful buffer between the two buildings, and add a sweet silence that everyone feels when they come into my building and apartment.  

30 Days + of Gratitude ~ Day 18

1. I am grateful for Christmas.  While the doorways for me to enter more deeply into the Presence are infinite, it's one holiday that always flings wide the doors of my Heart.
2. I am grateful for the United Methodist Church.  You gave me a home growing up when I needed a community of Spirit, a community free from judgment, a place to begin birthing myself as an open-hearted leader and man, starting with Asbury First United Methodist Church on East Avenue, Rochester, NY, and the United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF)...the mission trips, the Sunday nights, the friendships, the awakenings.  You made it possible through scholarships and loans for me to get through University.  Then last night you brought be back and opened my Heart wider on Christmas Eve at the Hollywood United Methodist Church....thank you....deep love...
3. I am grateful for Chanting!  Yep...while I've been a gatherer of knowledge most of my life, my real path is that of a Bhakta (the path of divine love and devotion to the One Heart)....since I first discovered chanting the "names" of the divine, I fell in love.  And it still takes me deeper into that One Heart every time I'm willing.
4. I am grateful that for all of the testing of my faith, I've never once been left high-and-dry!  Thank You...
5. I am grateful for the Writer's Group founded by David Elliott that gave me a place to get the wheels of my writing greased and moving for the last two years...into this place where I look forward to writing every day...where it's rarely ever a chore anymore.  And even on the days where it may "seem" like a chore, once I get writing the Presence comes into the foreground and I love the writing all over again.